WALTHAM, Mass. – With only seven days and three games left on the regular season schedule, the Bentley University women's basketball team will be looking to finish strong, beginning with a Wednesday night home game against The College of Saint Rose. Game time is 5:30 pm and as usual, will be streamed over the NE10 NOW digital network.

After a tough 49-48 loss to Pace University Saturday, the Falcons are alone in fourth in the Northeast-10 with records of 14-9 overall and 11-6 conference. The top three earn first-round byes for the conference championship tournament and Bentley is currently two games back of Le Moyne, Assumption and Southern New Hampshire in the loss column.

Saint Rose, in the midst of a five-game losing streak, is in tenth place. Seeds four through eight will host first-round games and the Golden Knights (9-14, 6-11) are currently a game out of eighth.

It's been a strange season for Bentley, which has lost four home games by a total of just seven points. Before coming up just short against Pace, the Falcons had dropped two-point decisions to Adelphi, New Haven and Saint Anselm. Meanwhile, they have swept Southern New Hampshire and posted a 28-point win over Assumption.

In Saturday's game, Bentley was in front 45-41 with 5:20 to play but managed only three points the rest of the afternoon. It was the third time in the last seven games that the Falcons have been held under 50.

While the offense has been up-and-down, coach C White's team has been solid defensively most of the winter. They rank seventh in Division II in defending the three and 12^th in scoring defense. Saturday was the 15^th time in which the Falcons have kept their opponent to 53 points or less.

The team's two double-figure scorers are junior forward Maggie Whitmore (South Portland, Maine/South Portland HS) and senior guard Ella Thompson (Greenville, Ind./Center Grove HS). Whitmore leads the team in most categories and has averaged 16.6 points in the last five games. Thompson, three points away from 800 career, scores 10.0 a game.

Senior guard Amanda Kabantu (Portland, Maine/Portland HS), who matched her season-best with 10 points in the Pace game, has started every game and averages 6.1 points. The scoring norm for freshman post Ciara Norman (Roebling, N.J./Life Center Academy) is up to a season-best 7.2 after she's totaled 38 points in the last three games. She also has 29 rebounds during that span, elevating her average to 5.4.

Saint Rose, which started the season at 5-2, is coming off an 81-43 loss at Southern New Hampshire. It's been a tough stretch for the Golden Knights, who will be playing on the road for the fourth time in five games and will be facing a team in the top six of the conference standings for the sixth straight contest.

The top scorers for coach Whitney Edwards nave been senior forward Makaela Johnson and junior guard Isabel Edwards. Johnson, who had three 20-point games earlier this year, averages 10.7 points and Sanchez follows at 10.0 a game. Sophomore wing Kaileigh Hunt doesn't shoot a lot (five attempts a game) but has a .522 field goal percentage.

Out in Albany in early January, Bentley went wire-to-wire for a 78-41 win over Saint Rose with the 37-point spread a season-best. The Falcons were up 41-14 at the half, limited the Golden Knights to 27 percent shooting and had a rebound margin of plus-20. Thompson led all scorers with 13 points and Whitmore added a dozen.

Bentley's 24-9 all-time record against Saint Rose includes seven straight wins and 15 wins in 18 games since 2008.

The rest of the regular season schedule has Bentley at Franklin Pierce Saturday and at home against American International Tuesday.